This morning we continued to see how God is telling one big sweeping story in the Bible. A few weeks ago, we learned about David's desire to build a place, where God would be honored to dwell - a temple for God's presence. But God said that one of David's offspring would build it. And what do you know, today we learned about Solomon, David's son, following through on that very promise. A permanent place for God's presence to dwell. But it wasn't really permanent because it is no longer there. And in 1 Corinthians 6:19 we see the Lord's even better plan for where is presence would dwell - "Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own," The building of the temple and its value remind us just how much importance the Israelites believed God deserved. And now when we choose to believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, making each of us a temple; so think about how valuable each person is for the God of the universe to dwell inside us. This week, look for ways to be in awe of God and His plans.
Some questions to extend the conversation:
Elementary
- Since Solomon was supposed to build the temple, why do you think it took so long to build? Was there a deeper meaning to the painstaking effort that was needed to create it?
- What was the most important purpose of the temple?
- How is a modern church building like the temple? How is it different?
Preschool
- What was the temple made for?
- What does worshiping God look like and sound like now since we don't go to the temple?